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Alternative vegetable snacks like veggie crisps and chips are the most popular form of alternative-ingredient snacks, according to Packaged Facts, with grain-based snacks slightly behind. Pulse-based snacks lag quite a bit behind, but chickpea snacks saw growth of more than 150 percent during 2016, the International Year of Pulses. Overall, alternative ingredient salty snacks grew more than 5 percent between 2015 and 2016, with sales expected to continue growing more than 6 percent annually. Read more at Smart Brief…

Extreme rain and extreme drought leave the food industry especially at risk for issues not just around water availability but also around insufficient water management and infrastructure. The nonprofit Ceres analyzed 42 large food companies’ water practices and found that three-fourths of them made some kind of public disclosure of how much water they’re using and discharging. A dozen of those companies, including Dean Foods and WhiteWave, link water efficiency goals with executive pay, and the report concluded that pressure from investors to control water futures is effective. The average score per company increased 10 percent over a similar study two years ago. Read more at Ag Funder News…

With the hiring of its first global president, and the promotion of a director of domestic sales, Amy’s Kitchen indicates that the plant-based company is positioning itself for more growth. Currently, it has more than 250 SKUs in the U.S. and three production plants, with another in the works on the East Coast. According to IRI, Amy’s Kitchen ranks fifth in the frozen food entrée category and had total revenues around $480 million in 2015. Read more at Retail Leader…

The ick factor has undoubtedly been a barrier to the insect protein market in the Western world. Christopher Kaltenback, a professor at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, hopes to overcome that as positioning it as a way to bring people closer to nature. Read more at CBC News…

The health food store in Missoula, Montana, has struggled financially and will close its doors by Nov. 30. The co-op opened in 2007 and initially was one of the only places nearby where people could buy local food. Read more at Missoulian…